The present invention relates to a protecting device for protecting a connector and electrical wires led out of the connector and also relates to a connector assembly having the protecting device and the connector.
FIGS. 1 to 3 show a conventional protecting device for a connector, which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 10-154545.
As shown in these figures, a connector 100 includes a connector housing 101 as an object to be protected by the protecting device. The connector housing 101 is provided with a plurality of cavities 102. Inserted into the cavities 102 are a plurality of terminals 103 that are connected to respective ends of wires W. In assembling, the terminals 103 are inserted into the cavities 102 from the backside of the connector 100. Each wire W is equipped, on the periphery of an end portion thereof, with a waterproof rubber 104. In assembling, the waterproof rubber 104 is fitted to the vicinity of a rear opening of the cavity 102, effecting a watertight function therein.
As the protecting device, a protecting member 105 is connected to the rear end of the connector housing 101 through hinges 106. This protecting member 105 is in the form of a flat plate, having an elastic projection 107 formed at the opposite end to the hinges 106. When pivoting the protecting member 105 from its opened state (see FIGS. 1 and 2) to the closed state (see FIG. 3), the elastic projection 107 is engaged with an engagement claw 108 on the side of the connector housing 101. As shown in FIG. 3, the protecting member 105 in the closed state is positioned apart from the rear face of the connector housing 101 at a predetermined interval L while opposing to the housing 101. The wires W extending from the rear side of the connector housing 101 are bent to a direction generally-perpendicular to a leading direction A, at a gap between the housing 101 and the protecting member 105 and further extracted from a lateral gap therebetween,
In this way, this protecting member 105 covers the rear side of the wires W extracted from the rear face of the connector 100.
In the so-constructed protecting member 105, there exists a problem that if a tensile force f shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 is applied on the wire(s) W, then the force f exerts a bad influence to the connector 100 due to its direct action thereon.
Additionally, since the application of the tensile force f on the wire W causes the wires W to be pulled in an oblique (generally-perpendicular) direction to the leading direction A to lead them from the connector 100, the waterproof rubber 104 is deformed elastically due to the tensile force f, so that a clearance is produced in the cavity 102 thereby deteriorating the water proofing property of the connector 100.